Height measuring device



April 12, 1955 J. F. KEPPLER ET AL HEIGHT MEASURING DEVICE Filed Feb. 4,1954 IEE 2 Sheets-Sheet l Il wam-olas JOHN F. KE'PPLER AND WILBUR`LBARTON April 12, 1955 .1 F. KEPPLER ET AL 2,705,840

Y HEIGHT MEASURING DEVICE Filed Feb. 4, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 72 lWILBUP. J. BARTON United States Patent O HEIGHT MEASURING DEVICE John F.Keppler and Wilbur J. Barton, Indianapolis, Ind.

Application February 4, 1954, Serial No. 408,191

2 Claims. ,(Cl. 33-172) This invention relates to a device for use inmeasuring the height of people particularly, and embodies the principleof lowering a member onto the head of the person to be measured, whichact of lowering automatically shifts a column of uid in a tube which isvisible and which has been calibrated to indicate the height of theindividual in accordance with the shifting therein.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a device of thecharacter indicated which will be automatically operating and which willgive a visual indication all without having to manipulate levers or barswhich have herebefore been employed to be shifted up and downmechanically.

A further important object of the invention is to provide a structurewhich will be exceedingly simple in construction and yet thoroughlyreliable and operable at little or no expense.

These and many other objects and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent to those versed in the art in the following description of oneparticular form of the invention as illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings in which Fig. l is a view in front elevation of a structureembodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation and partial section;

Fig. 3 is a view in rear elevation and partial section; and

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic illustration of the uid displacement system.

An upright housing is supported in any suitable manner, herein shown asbetween two sets of legs 11 and 12. The housing 10 carries anoverhanging head 13 which, in the present showing, is hollow andcommunicates interiorly with the inside of the housing 10.

The front wall 14 of the housing 10 carries on its forward side avertically disposed tube 15 which may be made out of any materialsubstantially transparent, and this tube 15 extends vertically of thewall 14 in front of a slot 16 which is provided through the wall 14.

The upper end of the tube 15 is connected by any suitable means such asthrough a tube 17 to a top reservoir 18. The lower end of the tube 15 isconnected through a length of tubing 19 which is looped around andcarried normally upwardly to a tank 20.

The tank 20 is supported by means of a cable 21 secured in the presentshowing to the top of the tank 20 and is carried around a pulley 22 atthe upper end of the housing 10, across to a pulley 23 and thencedownwardly to a weight 24, all within the housing. The weight 24 issuiicient to insure that the tank 20 is normally returned to an upperposition.

A cable 25 is attached to the tank 20 herein shown as to the under sidethereof, and is carried downwardly to the housing 10 to a pulley 26 nearthe lower end thereof, and thence around the pulley 26 and upwardly andover a pulley 27 at the top of the housing 10, around a pulley 28 to theside of the pulley 27, so as to carry the cable 25 to substantially thecenter of the housing 10, and then the cable 25 is carried upwardly intothe head 13 to pass over rst the pulley 29 and next over the pulley 30so that the cable 25 may be carried downwardly through the under side ofthe head 13 and be attached to a stop 31 which normally abuts the underside of the head 13 as best illustrated in Fig. 2. A head plate 32 issecured to the stop 31, or directly to the cable 25 as may be desired.

With the tank 20 in the uppermost position as is de- 2,705,840 PatentedApr. l2, 1955 ICC termined by the weight 24, a suitable liquid iscarried in the tube 19 and in the front tube 15, there being suicientluid in this system as indicated in Fig. 4 whereby the uppermost level33 desired in the tube 15 may be had with sufficient fluid finding itslevel 34 within the tank 20, but in the lowermost portion thereof. Thenwhen the head plate 32 is pulled downwardly as it will be to contact thehead of the person to be measured, the tank 20 will be lowered andconsequently the fluid 35 in the system will drop in the tube 15 and atthe same time tend to raise the level 34 in the tank 20 as illustratedin the dash line position ofthe tank, Fig. 4. By bringing the fluidlevel 33 to predetermined points in the tube 15, a scale 36 may beemployed either on the tube or on the wall 14, herein shown as being onthe wall 14, this scale 36 being calibrated to be accurate for thedifferent positions of the uid along the tube 15 so that the height ofthe individual may be read directly from the scale 36 in accordance withthe position of .the head plate 32 when pulled downwardly onto the headof the individual. The individual may stand of course facing the wall 14and pull the plate 32 down himself and thus be able to read directlywithout an'y assistance from other persons his own height. The reservoir18 is provided to insure against spilling over of the uid from the tube15 should the tank 20 be permitted to ascend too rapidly or be pulleddownwardly too quickly, in either case tending to produce a surge of thefluid 35 in the system. Also it is to be noted that both the reservoir18 and the tank 20 are vented to the atmosphere so that the levels 33and 34 may be quickly reached.

A source of light, such as a uorescent tube 37, is preferably mounted inthe housing to illuminate the tube 15 from its back side to outlinesharply the upper end of the uid in the tube.

In order to avoid surging of the uid 35 in the tube 15 when the tank 20may be quickly lowered or raised, it is desirable to restrict thediameter of the passageway leading from the top of the tube 15 into thereservoir 18. This restriction may take several forms, one for example,as would be an orifice (not illustrated) of reduced diameter at the topof the tube, and a second form such as is illustrated in Fig. 4 where aclamp 40 surrounds the tube 17 and a screw 41, carried by the clamp 40holds a shoe 42 against the tube 17 to collapse the tube 17 to therequired degree of restriction to flow through the tube 17.

Therefore while we have described the invention in the one particularform as herein illustrated, it is obvious that changes may be employedin the structure without departing from the spirit of the invention, andwe therefore do not desire to be limited to that precise structurebeyond the limitations which may be imposed by the following claims.

We claim:

l. A height measuring device comprising a vertically disposed housinghaving a front, vertically slotted wall; a substantially transparenttube carried by the wall along said slot; a fluid carrying tank in thehousing; a cable supporting the tank and extending upwardly from thetank; a pulley in the upper part of the housing around which the cablepasses; a weight carried by the cable below the pulley overbalancingsaid tank when lilled with iluid; a second cable attached to said tankand extending downwardly therefrom; a pulley in the lower part of saidhousing; pulley means in the upper part of the housing; said housinghaving a member overhanging said front wall above said tube; said pulleymeans in part being carried by said overhang and said second cablepassing around said lower pulley and up through said pulley system; ahead contact member on said second cable beyond said pulley system atsaid overhang; a ilexible tube interconnecting the lower end of saidwall carried tube and said tank; and uid in said wall-carried tube,exible tube and tank, shiftable by lowering and raising said tankthrough travel of said head member and said weight; said travel therebychanging the fluid height in said wall carried tube in accordance withthe tank elevation.

2. The structure of claim l in which there is a reservoir tank connectedby a passageway with the upper end of said transparent tube and a uidsurge control means 1,237,735 comprising a restriction to ow in saidpassageway. References Cited inthe tile of this patent l 1 UNITED STATESPATENTS 5 Eanram Aug. 14, 1906 4921587 4 Wright Aug. 21, 1917 Tyler Dec.15, 1925 Bryant Aug. 21, 1934 FOREIGN PATENTS France Mar. 27, 1919

